This week we’re learning about the letter [m]. We started off rainbow writing the letter [m] using our texta silk crayons.

We then moved our rainbow writing onto more unconventional mediums.

We scooped some sweetened condensed milk onto baking trays and practised writing the letter shape of [m]. It’s a tricky letter shape to learn as it involves hops, not just simple lines and circles. We’re still working on it.

N & M have never tasted sweetened condensed milk before. They were blown away.

MMMMMMM

More Milk? Yes. More. Milk.

More m’s.

Mmmmmmm

Then I gave them some melted chocolate to add to their trays.

Last but not least came the bowl of warm custard.

They delighted in mixing all three wonderfully sweet ingredients as they practised their rainbow writing of [m].

(There may have been more tasting than rainbow writing.)

Simple ideas for introducing [m]

Show children a written lower case [m]

• Model the mouth movement and sound [m]
• Visually connect the picture/word “mix” with the letter sound [m]
• Kinaesthetically simulate a mixing action. Close fist and move it in a circular action.

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The post [m] is for mixing the wonderfully sweet by Pauline appeared first on Lessons Learnt Journal.

This week, we’re learning about the letter [a]. We started off rainbow writing the letter [a].

We used Texta Silk Crayons. They’re really fun. They are of similar consistency as window crayons – think rich oil pastels but washable.

These silk crayons could be also be changed to water colours with a wet brush. Going over the letter shape of [a] with a wet brush provided more chances for N & M to practise the shape of the letter [a].

 We then made some chocolate fairy apples as part of our introduction to the sound [a].

We used delicious fuji apples.

N & M placed chocolate melts into a microwaveable bowl. They practised counting orally to ten and learnt about matching each number word to one, and only one object when counting – (a most tricky lesson to master).

A quick minute or two in the microwave and we had yummy melted chocolate. I placed a skewer in the middle of the apple to help them move the apple around more easily. Using a teaspoon, they spread the melted chocolate over the apples. So far, the mess was very manageable.

Enter the hundreds and thousands. They poured it over the melted chocolate and those little things bounce everywhere!

Do the pretty colours of the hundreds and thousands make the mess worth while? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. N&M are convinced that the sugary goodness of the hundreds and thousands are worth while.

Presenting our chocolate fairy apples.

We sliced them up (most of the chocolate bits fell off the apple at this stage), and N&M gobbled them up.

Simple ideas for introducing [a]

Show children a written lower case [a]

• Model the mouth movement and sound[a]
• Visually connect the picture/word “apple” with the letter sound [a].
• Kinaesthetically simulate biting an apple. Open mouth and place open hand close to mouth as if biting an apple.

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This fun art idea from the Out of Sync Child has Fun by C.S. Kranowitz (2003), is an oral-motor activity. It is great to do with children who drool, helps with developing muscles necessary to articulate sounds, improves force and tactile awareness of the lips  and strengthens visual and fine motor skills.

Here’s how we played and created some lovey dovey art.

Put on lipstick. You can help your child do this, or let them do it themselves.

Plant some kisses onto some paper.

Little E enjoyed this smoochy play too.

Add some details to the lip prints.

Have a chat with your mates about what you’ve created.

x x x x x x

Lesson learnt: little boys love kisses.

N&M: 3 y.o.
E: 15 months

References:
Kronowitz, C S 2003, The out-of-sync child has fun: activities for kids with sensory processing disorder, Penguin Group, New York.

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Rewind a few years. A university lecture hall. The Professor at the front of the hall presents his lecture on teaching children how to read. What is he going on about? Alphabetic principle? Fluency? Initial Phonemes? Segmentation?

There are so many facets to teaching literacy and literature but we must all start with humble beginnings. However, even humble beginnings are complex once deconstructed: vocabulary; background knowledge; alphabetic principle; phonemic awareness (ability to segment words into their separate sounds); comprehension; fluency; sight words; etc.

Let’s start with alphabet letter sounds. Alphabetic principle consists of both alphabet letter naming ability and alphabet letter sound knowledge. Often it is the alphabet letter sound ability that is harder of the two areas for students learn. (Also, these ideas will only use  lower case letters as capital letters only account for about 5% of all letters in the written word.)

Alphabet Letter Sounds: [s] is for Snakes

Simple ideas for introducing the alphabet letter sound [s].

Show children a written alphabet letter lower case [s].

• Model the mouth movement and sound [s].
• Visually connect the picture/word “snake” with the letter sound [s].
• Kinaesthetically move your hand like a slithering snake.

To further support the learning of the alphabet letter sound [s], make some loopy snakes

Draw patterns and stripes all over strong, thin paper.

Cut the paper into strips – some fat, some thin. Cut points at the end of the strips for heads and tails. Put glue under the head and tail.

Bend and stick onto paper. You can overlap the snakes when you stick them down. Finally, stick eyes onto the snakes.

N & M: 3 years, 4 months
September 2011

Looking for more ideas to teach letter sound ideas? Check out our:
[m] is for mixing the wonderfully sweet
[a] is for chocolate fairy apple
[s] is for stars
[e] is for egg

Check out these wonderful online literacy resources:

Primary English Teaching Association Australia
The Balanced Literacy Diet
Playdough to Plato

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